James Murdoch to return as chairman of Sky

After four years on the sidelines, James Murdoch is returning to the job of chairman of European broadcast giant Sky.

The company announced Friday that Murdoch will succeed the current chairman, Nicholas Ferguson, when he steps down in April.

One of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's sons, James Murdoch held the chairman job from 2007 to 2012 at Sky, which was previously known as BSkyB.

He stepped down amid the massive phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World, a British tabloid newspaper that was part of the Murdoch empire.

James Murdoch had also been in charge of the company that published the News of the World, but he consistently denied knowledge of the scale of the phone-hacking practices at the paper, which involved systematic illegal eavesdropping on crime victims, politicians, celebrities and veterans.